Quick question for the guru's. I have a 2004 6.0 PSD that I used to pull an enclosed all aluminum car hauler with a 3200 lb car inside, (total weight about 6000 lbs).

On a trip to South Carolina this past weekend, under load pulling up hills, the truck would start bucking and spitting, and I could hear the wastegate dumping. The truck would do this until I got the tranny to kickdown and pick the rpm's back up. It seems that when pulling over 2K rpms, the truck ran normally, but under 2k rpms under load, the truck really felt like it was going to quit.

Needless to say, I didn't get very good fuel milage running at 2500, 3000 rpms this weekend.

I have the auto tranny, and it didnt' matter if the tow/haul mode was on or off. I had added a MAC air intake system a couple of weeks ago, but don't see how that could cause this.

I also added a Bully Dog power pup at a power setting or 40%, and no other tuning mods. The truck acted the same with or without the tuner, and the tuner is currently deactivated.

Any ideas as to what is going on here? I've tried searching the forums but couldn't find anything, and there's simply too much info in the forums to read every entry.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

Hello jjlex, sounds like you just mentioned a recent trip I had. I have a 03 350 with a 6.0 ltr. I tow a 12K lb fifth wheel camper now and then. We just took the camper from the Seattle area down the coast to San Diego. I noticed the exact things you just wrote about on the first pass I had to go over in southern OR. When the tranny kicked down and the RPM's got up around 2600 or so, it would run fine again. I also heard the wastegate on a couple of occasions. When I got to the first campground in southern OR, I unhooked the camper (left my wife and son there with it) and drove to the closest diesel mechanic in the area because I did not have a code reader with me and I knew I had "threw" one when the check engine light came on during the last bout of spitting and sputtering. He read the code(s) and told me the turbo was bad and needed replaced. I had a tight schedule to keep and he could not get it fixed for a couple of days. He told me that it would not leave me stranded or anything, but when I got back home to get it to the dealership. We finished the trip with just a couple more bouts of spitting and bucking. When I took it to the dealership he said the turbo code was in there but he thought it might just be an EGR valve issue. He took the EGR valve off and cleaned it (carbon build up) and replaced the gasket. I have not had my trailer hooked back up since then, but I will tomorrow. I am going to go find a hill and see if that worked or the Ford dealership is just trying to get out of replacing my turbo. The truck runs fine without the trailer on and even with the trailer on flat or semi flat roads. I had the dealership leave the work order open until I see if it is fixed or not so I don't have to pay the $100 deductable again. If it does it again, I will be back in there and I will not leave without the new turbo. Hope this helps a little. -Glenn

 

Glenn, let me know what you find out. My truck also runs fine without the trailer, but it did get to bucking and spitting pretty bad, sometimes 8-10 times before I got the tranny kicked down.

On the trip down, it only did it a couple of times, but on the way back, it was pretty bad...almost like it was getting worse with every hill.

I'll check with the dealer later in the week when I get some time.

 

Whats this doing in the 6.4L forum?

 

I was wondering the same thing. Oh and egr valves are for gassers, and imo have no place on a diesel. I think that you can remove it, check around in the 6.oh-no fourm I think that there is a write-up. How much longer will you be under warrenty? That would be the first post-warrenty mod I would do.